FijiFirst Party Leader, Voreqe Bainimarama says other political parties were trying to tell us last week that our debt is so big that Fiji is going to collapse tomorrow but we have gone past one week already.
While speaking during a rally in Davuilevu, Bainimarama says he was listening to 4 parties talking about Government debt led by Vijay Narayan with Richard Naidu, Manoa Kamikamica and Savenaca Narube.
Fiji Labour Party Leader, Mahendra Chaudhry, Leading member of the National Federation Party Think Tank, Richard Naidu, People's Alliance Deputy Leader, Manoa Kamikamica and Unity Fiji Leader, Savenaca Narube appeared on fijivillage Straight Talk with Vijay Narayan last week for a debate on the economy.
Bainimarama says Fiji has not collapsed because they do not understand debt.
The FFP Leader says debt is about payment.
He says Fiji is now the third fastest growing economy in the world.
According to FocusEconomics, Fiji is the third fastest growing economy in the world 2022-2026, behind Guyana and Macau.
They say Fiji is extremely dependent on foreign visitors, particularly those from Australia and New Zealand and as such, the economy suffered over 15 percent GDP contraction in 2020 at the height of the pandemic as both Australia and New Zealand introduced strict quarantine requirements.
They say Fiji then recorded a further, smaller contraction in 2021so this steep downturn has created a favorable base of comparison which will flatter growth over our forecast period as tourism picks up.
FocusEconomics says in the first half of this year, visitor arrivals were over half their pre-pandemic levels and the country’s narrow economic base, vulnerability to natural disasters, high public debt and large current account shortfall are all risk factors.
FocusEconomics is a leading provider of economic analysis and forecasts for 200 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas, as well as price forecasts for 34 key commodities.
